ASCI report addresses 62 complaints against advertisements

The Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) of Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) in its recommendations of June 2017 upheld 62 complaints out of 126 advertisements. Out of of 62 advertisements against which complaints were upheld, 23 belonged to the Healthcare category, 17 to the Education category, followed by 10 in the Food & Beverages category, six in the Personal Care category, and six advertisements from other categories.

The council addressed 99 complaints from the general public, industry as well as from the Department of Consumer Affairs’ Grievances against Misleading Advertisements (GAMA) Portal and upheld 38 of these complaints. The CCC found the following claims of 14 advertisements in health care products or services to be either misleading or false or not adequately / scientifically substantiated and hence violating ASCI’s Code. In a Suo Moto surveillance of print and TV media via National Advertisement Monitoring Services (NAMS) project, the council processed 27 advertisements and total of 24 advertisements were considered to be misleading. Of these 24 advertisements against, 13 belonged to the Education category, nine belonged to the Healthcare category and two were from the Personal Care category.

Some of the health care products or services advertisements also contravened provisions of the Drugs & Magic Remedies Act (DMR Act), Drugs and Cosmet- ics Rules (D&C Rules) and Chapter I.1 and III.4 of the ASCI Code. In healthcare, the advertisements against Rediscover Clinic Pvt. Ltd. (Rediscover Laser, Slimming, Skin and Hair Clinic), SBS Biotech (Unit-II) Ayurvedic Division (Dr. Ortho Capsules & Ointment and Total Dental Care Pvt. Ltd. (Sabka dentist) were upheld. In Food and beverages, PepsiCo India Holding P. Ltd. (Pepsi Gatecrash) and Narang Group (Ocean Active Water) complaints were upheld. In personal care, complaints against Lotus Herbals Ltd. (Lotus Herbals Limited Safe Sun UV Screen Matte Gel), Emami Limited ( Emami Kesh King Ayurvedic Oil), X Men Instant Fairness Face Cream and Tianjin Tianshi India Pvt. Ltd. (Airiz Sanitary Napkin) were upheld. In education field, Satyadeva Institute, Vision IAS (Vision IAS Classroom) and Ambition School of Competitive Education were found to be misleading. Others which were found to have misleading advertisements include Voltas Ltd. (Voltas All Star Inverter A/C) and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd.